A kind of hush has fallen over town...

Burntisland residents have reluctantly agreed to plans for quieter chimes on their town clock after dark.

At a public meeting held in the town’s parish church hall, around 40 local people voted in favour of a compromise situation where quieter recorded chimes will be played at night.

The chimes were stopped in mid November last year after a single complaint about them being too loud.

After monitoring equipment showed the noise exceeded regulation levels, the mechanism was removed and the clock silenced.

However a huge campaign by people in the town resulted in an 1100 signature petition calling for the bells to be brought back being presented to Fife Council and a bell ringing protest in December.

A compromise, suggested by local councillor George Kay for a quieter recording of the chimes to be played between 10.00 p.m. and 7.00 a.m. each day, was put forward.

Councillor Kay said: “I would say that agreement has been reached with a degree of reluctance. It was felt that unfortunately officials on Fife Council possibly took the decision to remove the chimes before informing the Community Council or councillors.

“If they had been informed beforehand, we could have found a solution and gone forward without all this hassle.”

Morag Davidson, a member of the Community Council who helped organise the campaign. said: “Everyone agrees that we don’t think anything should have been done in the first place and that we are having to spend money needlessly, but this is the best compromise.

“I have been told that it will take about three months to get the mechanism back in place, and when it does, we will be having a big celebration.”